2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 17

My fantasy team did quite well today, considering I had 5 of the top 7 finishers on my team. :)

May 23, Stage 17: Falzes/Pfalzen - Cortina d'Ampezzo 187km

Rodriguez wins stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-17/results)

Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) won a dramatic stage 17 at the 2012 Giro d’Italia, overcoming some of his closest rivals in the general classification as the race headed into the Dolomites for the first time.

A leading group of about 25 riders was dismantled in brutal fashion as it started the final big climb of the stage. Liquigas-Cannondale’s injection of pace resulted in a breakaway group of six riders for the final 25km, with all of them handily placed in the GC.

In the end it was Rodriguez who marginally handled the descent and small uphill finish best. He crossed the line in Cortina d'Ampezzo ahead of Ivan Basso (Liquigas Cannondale), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), Rigoberto Uran (Sky), Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF), consolidating his lead in the overall standings and retaining the pink jersey after an epic mountain stage that captivated everyone who witnessed it.

With four uncompromising climbs ahead of them, each one woven into the folklore of the Giro, there was a palpable tension in the air amongst the riders as they waited at the start in Pfalzen, close to the Italian/Austrian border. Temperatures were in the mid teens and there was a generous covering of clouds, offering the riders protection in the early stages.

At the 50km point, a bunch of five broke away. Matteo Rabottini (Farnese-Vini), Branislau Samoilau (Movistar), Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana), Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale), and Jose Serpa (Androni) pulled clear and steadily built up a lead of roughly five minutes as the riders got over the first big climb of the day, the Falzarego. Rabottini, who won stage 15 in dramatic fashion on Sunday, added more points here to extend his lead at the top of the mountains classification.

By the time they reached the top of the Passo Duran with 55km to race, the gap had come down to 1:30. Back in the main group, which by this point had shrunk to around 40 riders, Liquigas was in control and keeping Basso’s powder dry for the business end of the race and protecting him most effectively. But all of the main GC contenders were there, including both of Astana’s leaders, Roman Kreuziger and Paolo Tiralongo.

The next climb, the Forcella, came along fast, and by this time, Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi) had caught up with Seeldraeyers, who had been dropped by the leaders. Rodriguez’s position was starting to look precarious back in the main group, which had shrunk to 25 now and contained none of the pink jersey holder’s Katusha teammates. Moments later Kreuziger was the first of the big names to crack as he lost touch with his GC rivals and fell off their pace.

The excitement amongst the crowd was about to be turned up a notch as the main chase group swallowed up the breakaway riders as they started the final, gruelling climb, the Passo Giau. Before they had a chance to catch their breath, Liquigas made its devastating attack and within minutes the leaders were strung out like laundry on a line. When the dust had settled it was those leading six riders who were left to fight it out for the remainder of the climb and the fast descent that followed.

As they approached the top, Pozzovivo attacked. Scarponi cramped up and he and Uran were temporarily dropped. They managed to fight their way back to the wheels of the leading four with 2km left to go. As they wearily closed on the finish line, which was on a gentle final gradient that probably seemed much steeper after the sweat and toil they had left on the road, Basso and Scarponi took it in turns to attack. But Rodriguez was poised in behind and produced a devastating late burst to prevail, winning his second stage of the race and confirming his superiority over his closest pursuers for pink.

In the end, there wasn’t a great deal of change at the top of overall GC, with the exception of the Astana duo, who were the big losers on the day. To those simply looking at the bare result and the overall standings, the stage may look an uneventful one. But it was far from it, and we’ll know more tomorrow in terms of its impact on the well being of the men who pushed themselves to the limit in search of Giro glory.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	5:24:42
2	Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
3	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda
4	Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
5	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
6	Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox	0:00:02
7	Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team	0:01:22
8	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team
9	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
10	Johann Tschopp (Swi) BMC Racing Team

2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 14

Life has caught up with me, and I struggle to find time to update this blog. I can't promise that next week will be any better, but I can promise I will TRY. :)

May 19, Stage 14: Cherasco - Cervinia 205km

Amador climbs to Giro d'Italia stage 14 victory

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-14/results)

Andrey Amador (Movistar) took the biggest win of his career by winning the first high mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday as once again an escape group made it through to the end. Jan Barta (NetApp) continued the strong work of his small German wildcard team to claim second, with Androni Giacattoli's Alessandro De Marchi third.

The pink jersey changed shoulders again, passing back to Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), who had jumped from the chasing field of favourites with about four kilometers to go. The Candian will go into the stage 15on Sunday with a nine-second lead over Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez.

"I felt good. It felt easy when the guys were setting the tempo," Hesjedal said to TV cameras after finishing. "When some guys started to accelerate a bit, I knew it eased off after 3km, and I figured I'd give it a go and test myself. I wasn't really thinking of anything except putting in an effort and seeing how the other guys did."

The top favourites had hung together up the two very lengthy climbs, with the group getting continually smaller but holding on to most of the top names to the end. Things only fell apart near the end, with Hesjedal's successful attack. Rodriguez and Ivan Basso (Liquigas) both tried but failed, to follow.

Amador, 25, had previously finished third on the Giro's 12th stage. The Costa Rican, who is now in his fourth year with Movistar, has ridden the Giro once before, and was second-to-last overall in last year's Tour de France.

He was the victim of a brutal attack whilst training in Costa Rica in January of 2011. His bike was stolen and he was severely beaten and left for dead in a river bed. However, he recovered quickly enough to ride in the Mallorca Challenge the next month.

Another successful break

The stage got off to a blazing fast start, covering 50.8km in the first hour. Four riders decided to spare themselves the mountains and were not at the start: Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEdge) and Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank).

The high initial speed meant that it took a while for the day's break to establish itself. But finally, with 60km behind them, Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol), Jan Barta (NetApp), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Nelson Oliveira (RadioShack-Nissan), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R-La Mondiale), Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli) and Pierpaolo De Negri (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) took off.

The field let them go, and the gap was over 12km as they approached the first climb of the day. The category 1 Col de Joux has an average gradient of 7 percent, but the climb is over 22km long.

The group took a 13-minute lead into the start of the first climb. Barta jumped from the group on the ascent in the rain on the wet road. The weather deteriorated rapidly as everyone ground his way up the long climb. As Barta stretched his lead out to over 40 seconds, the group behind him fell apart.

As expected, Mark Cavendish fell back on the climb, but less expectedly, so did King of the Mountains Michel Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

Barta continued his lead, crossing the top of the climb alone. Behind them, Jose Rujano (Androni Giacattoli) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre) shot out of the group, with Cunego eventually going on alone as Rujano was swept back into the field.

Barta's efforts came to naught, as he was caught and passed on his cautious way down the mountain. Amador was the first to catch him and went on to build up a lead on his not-so-cautious descent.

The sun actually came out on the final ascent. Amador continued in the lead, about 30 seconds ahead of Barta, Montaguti, De Negri and De Marchi. Cunego also continued on his solo chase, slowly building up a one-minute lead over the field. But that fell to about 30 seconds, and he was joined by Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel) and Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar). Txurruka pulled away and soon Liquigas pulled the peloton past Cunego.

Amador took a 1:25 lead under the 15km banner, with De Marchi and behind him Barta giving chase. The peloton was over seven and a half minutes down.

De Marchi's efforts were successful, and he caught the Costa Rican with just over 11km to go. The field was about 40 riders strong at that point, with all the favourites still there and the gap dropping to the six-minute mark.

There seemed to be some disunity between the two leaders, as Amador didn't seem to want to co-operate with his rival. Five and a half minutes back, the peloton slowly shredded.

With less than seven kilometers to go, Barta caught up again with the two leaders. But the Czech was clearly paying for his efforts on the day, and left the lead work to the other two.

The field had shrunk again, and the gap kept coming down, as the fog and rain returned. The three leaders took a 3:26 lead into the final 5km.

Rujano attacked into the fog, but the field, now about 25 riders, caught him again quickly. Dozens of running fans accompanied the now much smaller field, led by Ivan Basso (Liquigas), as one Astana rider struck out at an interfering fan. Surprisingly, Rujano and Cunego dropped off the back.

That was the cue for attacks to start out of the field. Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) built up a small lead, and the Canadian then continued on alone.

That was too much for Rodriguez, who jumped in pursuit, quickly catching the Basque rider, with the rest of the field following as the gap to the leaders sunk to 45 seconds with 4km to go.

Hesjedal held on to his lead over a chasing group of eight, from which Astana's Roman Kreuziger had been dropped. Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago - CSF Inox) tried to get away, and was caught as the three leaders turned up the speed on a flatter section in an attempt to retain their lead.

The trio crossed the one kilometre to go marker with Hesjedal not far behind. Barta opened the sprint, but Amador came from behind him to take it.

Hesjedal sailed away from his rivals, crossing the finish line only 20 seconds behind the top three. Paolo Tiralongo of Astana led the small group of favourites, including Rodriguez, in to the finish 46 seconds down, more than enough time to give Hesjedal the overall lead.

Results:

1	Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team	5:33:36
2	Jan Barta (Cze) Team NetApp
3	Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli	0:00:02
4	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda	0:00:20
5	Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team	0:00:46
6	Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
7	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
8	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
9	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
10	John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 18

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-18/results)

Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre) won the sprint of a two-man group to take the eighteenth stage of the Vuelta a Espana in Noja, easily out-sprinting Quickstep's Kristoff Vandewalle. The two had broken out of a large escape group to fight for the win. Skil-Shimano's Alexandre Geniez took third.

It was the third win of the season for the 27-year-old Gavazzi, who also won stages at the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tour of Portugal.

"I dedicate this victory to my team-mate Alessandro Spezialetti who had to quit the Vuelta because of a broken collarbone. We're friends and we've had fun together until he crashed," Gavazzi said.

He and Vandewalle nullified a dangerous attack by RadioShack's Sergio Paulinho in the final few kilometers, and with Vandewalle leading most of the final kilometer, it was Gavazzi who had the advantage in the sprint to the line.

"Paulinho went away strongly but luckily, he was alone and the finale was difficult for a lone rider because of the head wind. With 2km to go, when I saw Vandewalle attacking, I followed as the other guys were looking at each other.

"Maybe I'm lucky in this part of the world. I've won here in Cantabria and nearby in the Basque Country, possibly because the courses are adapted to my characteristics. For sure, I like to race in this area."

Vandewalle was disappointed not to win, but encouraged by his ride in today's finale. "I haven't been lucky today but I think that I rode well when Paulinho was brought back. Unfortunately, Gavazzi, who was the fastest rider of our front group, came across.

"Straight away, I understood that I couldn't win but I still tried. To finish second means nothing. Only the winners are remembered. But today's result puts a smile back on my face. I've had a very hard Vuelta so far. I suffered the heat. I've had stomach bugs. It feels good to ride at the front again."

The peloton had given up trying a serious chase early on, and enjoyed the view of the coast in the closing kilometers. Simon Geschke of Skil-Shimano led them across the finish line 7:42 after Gavazzi.

Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) didn't have to fear for his jersey or his 13 second lead over Sky's Christopher Froome. Apart form the stage win, the real battles of the day were for the points and mountains jerseys.

"The breakaway went early. It helped me enjoy my day with the red jersey on home soil," Cobo said. "Today it was just a question of being vigilant and lucky. There was no danger. Everything went well. We’ve controlled the first part of the stage with two riders from Geox-TMC at the front of the bunch. With the help of other teams whose spots on GC were threatened, we've reached the finish the way we wanted."

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) rebounded from his injuries and crash from two days ago to reclaim the points jersey. The Spaniard had dropped to third place in the ranking, but made sure that he was in the day's escape group. 'Purito' won both of the intermediate sprints and finished eighth, giving him enough of a boost to move back into green.

"After the bad day I had at La Covatilla and the two crashes I had before the stage finishes at Talavera and Haro, the remaining goal I have is to win the points classification," Rodriguez said. "I wasn't able to go for the stage win today but I went in the breakaway for the green jersey. It would be so nice to go on the final podium in Madrid!"

David Moncoutie held on to his polka dot mountain jersey thanks to his Cofidis teammate Nico Sijmens, who was in the escape group along with Matteo Montaguti (AG2R), second in the ranking. The Italian did all he could to claim the jersey, but Sijmens managed to foil his plans by finishing ahead of him at four of the day's five climbs.

"It was the worse case scenario but thanks to Nico Sijmens who did a great job marking Montaguti," Moncoutie said. "I've kept the polka dot jersey with an advantage of seven points. It's going to be tight until Saturday. In the second or third category climbs, Montaguti might be faster than me but I'm probably superior in the first category climbs. The crucial stage is on Saturday but if I have to force myself at the beginning of tomorrow's stage, I'll go for it. Ag2r-La Mondiale and Cofidis are fighting hard for the polka dot jersey. I want to win it badly!"

Battles for the jerseys

It took all of 10 kilometers for today's break group to form and get away. Joaquin Rodriguez, who has suffered since a crash two days ago, seemed to want to prove he wasn't done for yet and joined 16 others in flight.

Matteo Montaguti (AG2R), Martin Kohler (BMC), Nico Sijmens (Cofidis), Juan Jose Oroz (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-ISD), Francis De Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Robert Kiverlovski and Josep Jufre (Astana), Davide Malacarne and Kristof Vandewalle (Quickstep), Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), Volodymir Gustov (Saxo Bank), Alexandre Geniez and Albert Timmer (Skil-Shimano), Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) and Sergio Paulinho (RadioShack) made up the group.

After a strenuous few days in the mountains and with so many teams represented up front, the peloton seemed delighted to let this group do what it wanted. The gap got up to 10:50 and then stayed within the nine-to-ten minute range.

Rodriguez showed himself eager to gain back as much time and pride as he could. The Spaniard was wearing the green points jersey when he crashed on the 16th stage, and despite his time losses had dropped to only third in that ranking, 11 points behind Rabobank's Bauke Mollema. He helped himself by winning both of the day's intermediate sprints.

There were a total of five ranked climbs on the day's stage, and they were the reason that Montaguti was in the escape. He had dropped to third in the mountain ranking, one point behind race leader Juan Jose Cobo (Geox) and 22 points behind David Moncoutie of Cofidis.

The Italian won the first climb, the category 3 Puerto de Bragula, gaining three points, but was only second at the second climb, the Alto del Caracol (category 2), for another three points and at the category 1 Puerto de Alisas. The latter two were won by Sijmens, who sprinted for the points to protect the lead of his Cofidis teammate.

The day's only category 1 climb, which came with about 50km to go, and the fight for the mountain points was enough to start breaking up the lead group. Behind them, individual riders tried to break from the peloton, including Nicolas Roche (AG2R) and Wouter Pouls (Vacansoleil), riders who could potentially pose a threat to the red jersey if they were allowed to get too far away. But they were caught again.

After that climb, a ten-man lead group formed: Montaguti, Sijmens, Oroz, Rodriguez, Gavazzi, De Greef, Kiserlovski, Vandewalle, Gustov and Paulinho. They casually stretched the lead out to over 12 minutes.

Sijmens also took the mountain points on the category 3 Puerto de la Cruz Ursano, with Montaguti having given up hope and not sprinting for the summit, although he still finished second.

A disorganized group

With 30km to go, Paulinho took off out of the lead group. The Portugese rider just kept on going and built up his gap. Sijmens didn't have to worry about snapping up the points at the final climb, the Puerto de Fuente las Varas (category 3) as Paulinho took the top points, followed by, who else, Sijmens and Montaguti.

Paulinho had a lead of up to 50 seconds and looked clearly on his way to a solo win, but with 12km to go, it had dropped to 35 seconds. The chasers were eager to get their chance at the stage win, and turned up the speed on the chase. The disorganized group came closer and closer and if they hand managed to work together and co-ordinate their efforts, they could easily have caught him with eight or nine kilometers to go.

But with each riding for himself, they couldn't get things together – much to Kiserlovski's disgust, who was thinking he was doing far too much of the lead work. Whether it was the sheer power of their number, or whether Paulinho was slowing down, they came closer and closer.

Paulinho doggedly hung on, helped by the fact that the group continued to work against itself with constant attacks. Despite themselves, they caught the RadioShack rider with 2.5km to go.

That was the cue for Vandewalle to attack, soon followed by Gavazzi, who hung on to the Belgian's wheel. They went under the one kilometer marker seven seconds ahead of the nearest chaser, and Vandewalle led out the sprint and looked nervously over his shoulder. His fears were justified, as the Italian moved around him to easily take the sprint.

The remainder of the escape group dribbled over he finish line for the next four minutes. Behind them, the field was finally coming closer. A Leopard Trek rider tried to get away, but was caught again. Geschke won the sprint of honour of the large group.

Result
1	Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre - ISD	4:24:42
2	Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team
3	Alexandre Geniez (Fra) Skil - Shimano	0:00:10
4	Nico Sijmens (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
5	Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
6	Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Saxo Bank Sungard
7	Juan José Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
8	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
9	Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Pro Team Astana
10	Francis De Greef (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:00:15

GC Overall

Result
1	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	74:04:05
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:13
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:01:41
4	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:02:05
5	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC	0:03:48
6	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:04:13
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:04:31
8	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:04:45
9	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:05:20
10	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:05:33

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 13

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-13/results)

Michael Albasini of HTC-Highroad powered his way to victory in Ponferrada, dominating the sprint of an escape group on the thirteenth stage of the Vuelta a Espana. Eros Capecchi (Liquigas) was the only one of the 20-man group able to keep up with him, with Dani Moreno of Katusha coming in third.

"It's a big sensation, I'm so happy to win the stage," Albasini said. "I did the right move, I got in the right group. I suffered a lot over the mountain, but once I got over the last climb I knew it was possible."

It was his third win of the season, having previously won a stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt (where he wore the leader's jersey for one day), and the GP Kanton Argau. The Swiss rider also took the mountain jersey at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

What started out as a 23-man group never had more than about a 3:20 lead over the peloton, but it was enough as the field went over five ranked climbs, including Vuelta debutante Puerto de Ancares. The field crossed the finish line 1:32 behind the winner, and Bradley Wiggins easily defended his leader's jersey.

Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) moved up from fourth to second place by taking a six second time bonus for first place in the first intermediate sprint. The 2010 champion is now only four seconds behind Wiggins.

The first of three serious mountain stages saw a change in the lead of the mountain rankings. David Moncoutie of Cofidis trailed Matteo Montaguti (AG2R) by only one point coming into the stage, and he was determined to reclaim the jersey he has won the last three years. Losing out to Montaguti at the first two climbs, the Frenchman joined the day's break to pick up major points at the remaining three climbs, with his rival being shut out.

Moncoutie now leads Montaguti by 12 points in the climber's competition.

Five climbs on the day

The stage got off to a fast and furious start. A large group got away early, with mountain classification rivals Montaguti and Moncoutie in it. Montaguti defended his lead by winning the first climb of the day, the Alto O'Pico Da Pena, ahead of Moncoutie.

The group was joined by such big names as race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas). Nibali took advantage of the situation to jump for the points and time bonuses at the first intermediate sprint of the stage. The six seconds moved him up to virtual second place.

The top names dropped out and the rest of the group made it to the second climb. The category the Alto de O Lago didn't offer many mountain points, but Montaguti and Moncoutie were in a neck-and-neck race for the climbing title. Benat Intxausti of Movistar took the top points, with Montaguti second and Moncoutie third.

David Le Lay of AG2R got away on the 15km descent, jumping about 47km into the stage. He was soon joined by a large group, so that the break consisted of: Jan Bakelandts and Olivier Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Marc De Maar and Kevin Seeldraeyers (Quickstep), Dominik Nerz and Eros Capecchi (Liquigas), Amets Txurruka, Igor Anton, Mikel Nieve and Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel), Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Andalucia-Caja Granada), Yohan Bagot and Moncoutie (Cofidis), Filipe Oliviera Nelson (RadioShack), Daniel Moreno and Alberto Losada (Katusha), Chris Sørensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Michael Albasini (HTC-Highroad), Carlos Sastre, David Blanco and David De La Fuente (Geox), David Le Lay and Nicolas Roche (AG2R), Oliver Zaugg (Leopard Trek), Evgeny Petrov (Astana), David Lopez and Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Movistar).

Moncoutie had made the jump to the group, while Montaguti missed out on it. The Frenchman took advantage of that to be second over the top of the category one Alto de Folgue de Algas, behind Le Lay.

The group carried a lead of about 2:40 into the start of the major climb of the day. The Ancares, 11.8 km long and 7.7%, was making its long-awaited debut in the Vuelta. The gruelling climb took its toll on the group, and Anton was the first to lose contact.

The crowds and clouds were thick at the top of the climb. Once again Moncoutie was only second at the top, this time behind Moreno.

Despite the ominous clouds, there was sunshine on the descent. A potentially dangerous group with Nibali, Kessiakoff and Mollema tried to get away from the chasing peloton, but was roped back in. The fearsome climb, with its equally dreaded descent, did not play the decisive role for which some had hoped.

There was one final climb, the category three Puerto de Lumeras after 116 kilometers. Moncoutie finally was able to take this one, topping it out ahead of Sørensen and De Maar.

The peloton, noticeably smaller than before, kept moving slowly towards the equally diminishing lead group, with the gap bouncing around the two minute mark.

With 15km to go, it was becoming clear that the group would make it through to the end. The riders in the chasing group of favourites adjusted their strategy to one of limiting their time losses, and making sure their rivals didn't slip out to gain a few seconds advantage.

With three in the group, Euskaltel had the advantage and led the group, keeping the pace up. The peloton rode furiously and got closer and closer but was unable to totally close the gap.

Albasini and Madrazo jumped with about 3km to go, and were joined by Moncoutie. De Maar didn't join them but flew past. Meanwhile, Bakelandts tried to go but a traffic island brought him down.

The group came together again and crossed under the 1km flag. Albasini opened the sprint and easily powered his way to the finish line ahead of Capecchi, with Moreno a bit back in third. The field came in 1:32 later.

Result
1	Michael Albasini (Swi) HTC-Highroad	4:19:39
2	Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
3	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team
4	David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Geox-TMC
5	Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
6	Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Leopard Trek
7	Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Movistar Team
8	David Blanco Rodriguez (Spa) Geox-TMC
9	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
10	Marc De Maar (AHo) Quickstep Cycling Team

GC Overall

Result
1	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	51:14:59
2	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:04
3	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:07
4	Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Pro Team Astana	0:00:09
5	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek	0:00:19
6	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:00:36
7	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:01:04
8	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:01:27
9	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:01:52
10	Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Team RadioShack	0:01:53

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 8

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-8/results)

He’s been in terrific form of late and on Saturday afternoon in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) demonstrated that his fitness is scintillating with another powerful surge on the steep slopes of the torturous final kilometre of stage 8 of the Vuelta a España.

With many tipping the Spaniard to shine on a finish that featured ramps of 27 percent, Katusha’s captain delivered, beating Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and Rabobank’s Bauke Mollema to take his second stage win and the overall lead in this year’s Vuelta.

Having worn the red jersey for a stage after the first day, Jakob Fuglsang’s (Leopard Trek) fine fifth place finish saw him move back up in the standings to third overall, with Dani Moreno (Katusha) sitting in second behind his team leader.

The final agonising kilometres separated some of the overall favourites, with 16 seconds covering the top 10. A notable absentee from that group was defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), who finished 32 seconds behind Rodriguez and now sits in fourth place overall. “I didn’t feel so good during the stage because of my crash yesterday but this is not an excuse,” Nibali said afterwards. “I hope that I’ll be able to reverse the situation at the time trial in Salamanca.”

Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins came across the line 20 seconds down in 19th place and now lies 1:43 behind Rodriguez, albeit with Monday’s crucial 47km time trial still to come for the British contender.

Rodriguez’s recon pays off

Always a threat when the road pitches sharply upwards as it did in the final kilometre of the stage, Joaquim Rodriguez explained afterwards that he had taken time to reconnoitre Saturday’s finale before the Vuelta in order to maximise his chances.

“It was useful to know the course,” Rodriguez said. “I came to reconnoitre it in July with Dani Moreno who lives nearby and it has helped me to win. I knew where to impose my rhythm, where to sit on the bike on the false flats and where to accelerate again.”

As well as winning the stage, Rodriguez gained a handful of seconds on all of his rivals for the red jersey in Madrid, and that bounty was bolstered by the 20-second time bonus he picked up for winning the stage. Given his weakness against the watch, Rodriguez acknowledged that he had to make his gains count ahead of Monday’s time trial in Salamanca.

“I knew before the Vuelta that I have to gain a maximum of time bonuses and I target them on the uphill finishes because I’m aware that I’ll lose a lot of time on Monday to riders like Bradley Wiggins and Janez Brajkovic,” he said. “I’ll try to increase my advantage tomorrow. In the time trial, I’ll lose at least 2:30.”

All about the finish

After the mountainous appetisers earlier in the week, today’s stage delivered a brace of category two climbs – the San Bartolomé de Pinares and the Alto de Santa María – preceded by the first category Puerto de Mijares: a test of sorts for the overall contenders while the breakaway bandits were licking their lips.

Their biggest obstacle was the tough uphill finish, with ramps of up to 27 percent that represented another chance for the likes of Katusha duo Moreno and Rodriguez, both of whom have already stamped their mark on this year’s Vuelta with stage wins.

Approaching the top of the Puerto de Mijares after a rapid start, Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo) and Matteo Montaguti (AG2R-La Mondiale) were the lone leaders, having made their way off the front after 25km, while 1:10 behind them lay Friday’s most combative rider Julien Fourchard (Cofidis) and Adrian Palomares (Andalucia Caja Granada).

A further 4:05 back was Skil-Shimano’s Koen De Kort, with the peloton sitting 7:32 behind the leading duo. It wasn’t long before the Dutchman was reabsorbed by the bunch, however, as the two pairs at the front made a leading quartet after cresting the category one climb.

The peloton was content to give the leading quartet the time it wanted and with 28km remaining in the stage, the gap was still 1:58 – never enough to stay away until the finish but sufficient for another 17km of freedom, as Haussler was the last card to fall when Cofidis’ Rein Taaramae tried his luck heading into the final 10 clicks of the day.

Joined by Angel Madrazo (Movistar), teammate David Moncoutié, Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM), the freshly-formed quintet then decided it wanted to disrupt Katusha’s party and went into the final five kilometres – including the finishing climb – ahead of the main field, which would soon be ripped to shreds on the stinging ascent.

With three kilometres remaining and the hardest gradient ahead, Taaramae was the sole survivor of the late-stage move but even his bravery had its limits and he was swallowed up by a peloton led by Lampre-ISD and Katusha’s diminutive pair of Moreno and Rodriguez.

The harder grades required the higher marks and Scarponi went off in search of them, hitting out on the 20 percent slopes near the top of the climb but Rodriguez followed suit and swiftly passed the Italian on the cobbled section. He was never to be passed as those behind him fought for the scraps on what is becoming a familiar scene at this edition of Spain’s national tour.

Notable performances came from Euskaltel-Euskadi captain Igor Anton, who overcame his recent troubles to finish sixth and Irish cousins Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Daniel Martin (Garmin-Cervélo), who took seventh and ninth respectively. Maxime Monfort’s strong showing also earned him a place in the overall top 10 while Denis Menchov showed his hand somewhat with eighth at the end of the 183 kilometres.